Jamie Oliver Roasted Butternut Squash Food

BUTTERNUT SQUASHED

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
• Wash and dry the whole squash, then place on a baking tray. Pierce once or twice with the tip of a sharp knife, then bake in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until golden and very soft.
• Scatter the pine nuts on a baking tray and toast them in the oven at the same time - they will only need a couple of minutes to turn golden, so make sure you keep an eye on them to prevent them burning.
• Add a lug of oil to a frying pan, then pick in the sage leaves and fry until crisp. Remove to piece of kitchen paper to drain, reserving the oil.
• Lay the cooked squash on a board, remove the stalks and, using a knife and tongs, carefully slice the squash lengthways, down the middle. Scoop out and discard the seeds.
• Finely chop the chilli and crumble the chestnuts, then sprinkle over the squash halves with the cinnamon and a good pinch of black pepper. Really mash and chop all the lovely toppings into the squash with your knife, so all the flavours go right through.
• Serve the squash halves topped with the crisp sage, the toasted pine nuts, a drizzle of the reserved sage oil and a little balsamic vinegar (if using).

BUTTERNUT SQUASH MUFFINS WITH A FROSTY TOP

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line your muffin tins with paper cups.
• Whiz the squash in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the sugar, and crack in the eggs. Add a pinch of salt, the flour, baking powder, walnuts, cinnamon and olive oil and whiz together until well beaten. You may need to pause the machine at some point to scrape the mix down the sides with a rubber spatula. Try not to overdo it with the mixing - you want to just combine everything and no more.
• Fill the paper cups with the muffin mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Check to see whether they are cooked properly by sticking a wooden skewer or a knife right into one of the muffins - if it comes out clean, they're done. If it's a bit sticky, pop them back into the oven for a little longer. Remove from the oven and leave the muffins to cool on a wire rack.
• As soon as the muffins are in the oven, make your runny frosted topping. Place most of the clementine zest, all the lemon zest and the lemon juice in a bowl. Add the sour cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds and mix well. Taste and have a think about it - adjust the amount of lemon juice or icing sugar to balance the sweet and sour. Put into the fridge until your muffins have cooled down, then spoon the topping onto the muffins.
• Serve on a lovely plate (on a cake stand if you're feeling elegant, or on a rustic slab if you're more of a hunter-gatherer type!), with the rest of the clementine zest sprinkled over. For an interesting flavor and look, a few dried lavender flowers or rose petals are fantastic.

JAMIE OLIVER'S BUTTERNUT SQUASH MUFFINS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• Place squash in blender/food processor and finely chop.
• Add remaining ingredients to blender/food processor and process until combined.
• Fill muffin tin with mixture.
• Bake 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Cool on a wire rack.